By Barrett Newkirk
ANDERSON — An assistant men’s basketball coach for Anderson University died this week while traveling in Illinois.
Chris Seelbach, 29, died Tuesday from a heart arrhythmia, or irregular heart rhythm, while sleeping at a hotel in Moline, Ill., a city near the Iowa stateline about 165 miles west of Chicago, according to his mother, Diann Seelbach of Middletown.
Chris Seelbach, an Anderson resident, was a graduate of AU and a former athlete at the school. He had worked with the men’s basketball team for one season and was a salesman for the MediaCom Communications cable company who frequently traveled to Illinois and Iowa.
He was set to get married next month in Tennessee. The unexpected death has shocked his family.
“Everyday I think it gets a little better, but it’s really hard,” Diann Seelbach said.
Her son was an avid runner and golfer who stood 6 feet 8 inches tall and had no previous heart problems, she said.
He was “bigger than life,” she said. “He loved his family and his friends.”
Diann Seelbach, who grew up in Mississippi, said her son adored Southern culture and gospel music, which is probably why he fell in love with a woman from Tennessee. It’s also why the family is having his remains buried in Dixon, Miss.
Services for Seelbach will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Madison Park Church of God. Visitation is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Rozelle-Johnson Funeral Service.
Chris Seelbach was born in State College, Penn. and graduated from high school in Alma, Mich. He attended Alma College for three years and played basketball there before transferring to Anderson University and joining the Ravens team. He graduated in 2002 with a degree in psychology.
Tom Slyder, the head men’s basketball coach at AU, knew Seelbach as a player and a coach. He said Seelbach was a skilled recruiter who loved good conversations.
“He brought great enthusiasm to the court,” Slyder said. “He was a man who you loved to be around because he made things fun and exciting.”
Nick Vandergrift, a three-year member of the Ravens men’s basketball team, said he would remember Seelbach for his positive, caring approach to coaching and how he often took extra time to work with players.
“He brought energy to our group of guys every day,” Vandergrift said. “Whether it was after a loss or after a win, when coach Seelbach walked into a room, he lifted everybody’s spirits.”
